Teaching on the run tips 9: in‐training assessment

Education Centre, Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry, University of Western Australia, Nedlands, WA. Fiona R Lake, MD, FRACP, Associate Professor in Medicine and Medical Education. Reprints will not be available from the author. Correspondence: Associate Professor Fiona R Lake, Education Centre, Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry, University of Western Australia, First Floor N Block, QEII Medical Centre, Verdun Street, Nedlands, WA 6009. flake@cyllene.uwa.edu.au The Medical Journal of Australia ISSN: 0025729X 4 July 2005 183 1 33-34 ©The Medical Journal of Australia 2005 www.mja.com.au Teaching on the run their performance (how they are “doing” the jo highest level of Mille ’s four-level clinical assessme (see “Tips 6”). What we ne to judge is broad — covering cli ence, communication and professional skills. Unle advance, we could find ourselves lost at the end attachment, not really sure how well trainees are d ed co cli M ical schools, clinical colleges and other groups are mmitted to improving the measurement of trainees’ nical skills by using specific assessments such as OSCEs (objective structured clinical examinations), simulated patients, mini-short cases or portfolios (the latter a collection of evidence of ability, such as supervisor reports, audit of procedures or publications). However, as Miller has noted, “no single assessment method can provide all the data required for judgement of anything so complex as the delivery of professional services by a successful physician”. Most of us contribute by assessing trainees as they work with us — so-called “intraining assessment”. Our judgments are based on observing b) — ie, the nt pyramid